Chronological Classics
French compilation album series
The Chronological Classics series consists of 965 jazz compact discs compiled by Gilles Pétard in France. Classics Records was a record company and label founded by Pétard in Paris around 1989. The company also reissued recordings by Rhythm & blues artists in a series which ran to 190 CDs.
The label set out to assemble comprehensive collections of jazz recordings by hundreds of artists previously issued on 78 rpm records (according to European copyright laws, recordings enter the public domain after 50 years) and issue them on compact disc. The series was issued with discographical details and colour-coordinated packaging. Classics Records concentrated on reissuing American jazz, since American record companies were not issuing early jazz editions on anything like this scale. Classics Records had several European rivals in the early 1990s such as Masters of Jazz and Jazz Archives.
The series was initially distributed by subscription, with five issues released each month. The series began with number 500 in December 1989 with Ella Fitzgerald 1935–1937. The series consists of the output of the greatest jazz musicians up to the early 1950s, including Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman, as well as lesser known artists, such as Jabbo Smith, Claude Hopkins, and Tiny Parham.
“Chronological Classics” enters the record as french compilation album series. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chronological, Classics and French can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Chronological Classics” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Chronological, Classics and French provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q96142581. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1935 and 1937.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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This entry incorporates text from “Chronological Classics” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.